In the fourth part of the series on naturalidades, where a person is from in Brazil, we’ll take a look at the Southeast/South central region.

A person from the state of São Paulo is called paulista, and a person from the capital city, also São Paulo, is called paulistano.

A person from the state of Rio de Janeiro is called fluminense, and a person from the capital city, also Rio de Janeiro, is called carioca. The word “carioca” comes from the Tupi-Guarani language spoken by the indigenous people who lived in the southern part of Brazil before the arrival of the Portuguese. “Cari” means “branco” (white) and “oca” means “casa” (house), so the word means “casa de branco,” or white man’s house.

Another fun fact about the use of the word “carioca” is that a person called “carioca da gema” is a person born and raised in Rio of parents who were also born and raised in Rio. Meanwhile, a “carioca da clara” is a person born and raised in Rio of parents raised in other parts of the country. “Gema” refers to the yolk of an egg, and “clara” refers to the egg white.

A person from the state of Espírito Santo is called capixaba, and a person from the capital of Vitória is called vitoriense. In the Tupi language, “capixaba” means fertile land, and the indigenous people referred to the rich soil in this part of Brazil as such, where they grew mandioca root and corn. Later, the word was adapted to refer to people who live in this small state.

A person from the state of Minas Gerais is called mineiro, and a person from the capital of Belo Horizonte is called belo-horizontino.

Examples:

Ronaldo, o jogador de futebol na fota acima, é carioca. Ronaldo, the soccer player in the photo above, is from Rio de Janeiro (city).
O paulistano torçe para Palmeiras. The man from Sao Paulo (city) roots for the Palmeiras soccer team.

Also, naturalidades can be used to refer to objects or things that come from a certain part of Brazil:

A comida mineira é famosa em todo Brasil.  Food from Minas Gerais is famous all over Brazil.